Scientists have found out why patients suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) fail to respond to steroids.

Scientists from Imperial College, London have also been able
to combat this resistance and have started clinical trials for
a potential therapy.

The researchers found that although other inflammatory
diseases are usually easily treated with steroids, these
steroids fail to `switch off' activated inflammatory genes in
patients with COPD.

`Switching off' inflammatory genes requires an enzyme called
Histone Deacetylase 2 (HDAC2) but the researchers found that in
COPD patients, levels of HDAC2 were very low compared to normal
cells.

However, studies in rats found that low doses of the drug
theophylline successfully raised the levels of HDAC2 and broke
steroid resistance.

Speaking at the British Endocrine Society's annual meeting,
lead researcher Professor Peter Barnes said: “COPD kills
tens of thousands of people in the UK every year and currently
we can only treat the symptoms, not the underlying problem of
inflammation in the lungs.”

“Our work has finally provided an explanation for
steroid resistance in COPD, and has allowed us to identify ways
to combat this.”

Barnes revealed that the first stages of clinical trials to
test low doses of theophylline in COPD patients are now under
way. If the trials are successful, it is hoped that they may
lead to a change in the treatment of COPD and other severe
inflammatory diseases that do not respond to steroid
treatment.

Barnes added: “We hope that the clinical trials of
theophylline will be successful so that we can finally offer an
effective therapy to COPD sufferers - a staggering 6 per cent
of the population.”

In 2004 the European Respiratory Society reported that COPD
kills over 30,000 people each year in the UK and that by 2020
is likely to account for over six million deaths worldwide. It
is currently the fourth most common cause of death in the
UK.